NRAI omits Bindra from 2 WCs, exempts from trials

Published: Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 9:07 [IST]

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New Delhi, Jan 19: Abhinav Bindra's decision to quit the game may have jolted the NRAI, but the association's decision after the controversy is far from what the Olympic gold medalist may have thought.

In what could be both a good and a bad news for the Bindra, the NRAI has decided to accept his international scores for the inclusion in the teams for the third and the fourth World Cups which will be held in 2010.

However, the NRAI has some bad news as well. Bindra will not be part of the first and the second World Cups because the Sports Ministry has already approved the teams for the three events.

To being about a reconciliation, the NRAI has also appealed to the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi to stepped and sort out the matter.

“Being the IOA president, we have asked Mr Kalmadi to talk to Bindra and settle the matter. We have called his father A S Bindra for a meeting tomorrow and asked him to bring Abhinav"s international scores alongwith him," NRAI secretary-general Baljeet Singh Sethi told reporters.

Speaking on Bindra's exclusion from the two World Cups, Sethi said that it was too late to make the changes.

“The teams have already been selected and the government has also given its approval, so we can"t make any changes right now," he said.

The friction betwwen the India's sole Olympic gold medalist came to light when Bindra declared his decision to quit shooting after he was ommitted from the national team for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Bindra said that he was tired of fighting the system and that he wants to NRAI to accept his scores in tournaments abroad for selection instead of being asked to appear for repeated trials.

The NRAI had excluded Bindra stating that the ace shooter had failed to run up for regular trials.

The association changed its stance after Sports Ministry called any selection process that leaves out the best talents as faulty, adding that it would have no objection to the NRAI's decision to exempts Abhinav from trials.

Finally, the NARI finally agreed to Bindra's condition but not before excluding from World Cups to be held in Fort Benning, USA from May 22-31 and in Belgrade from June 26-July 7.

The NRAI did not hide its annoyance in accepting the condition, terming it as a bad example for others in the future.

“Obviously, if we exempt Abhinav from trials other shooters will also demand such exemption in future.